This past offseason, veteran quarterback Joe Flacco expressed his desire to remain with the Cleveland Browns, but after Cleveland selected Jameis Winston over Flacco, he ended up signing with the Indianapolis Colts to back up second-year player Anthony Richardson.
On Sunday, Flacco took over for an injured Richardson during the Colts’ home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the win, the Colts moved to 2-2 on the season.
“After the game, you never know what’s going to happen in this league,” Flacco said to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. Some things are beyond your control. That leaves you with no choice but to get outside, play as hard as you can, and put everything else aside. There was a lot involved, listen. Last year, going out and playing the way I did was so much fun. Indeed, it’s true that you always harbour the hope of being given the opportunity to play professionally again. However, this is my current situation and this is the nature of it.”
After starting quarterback Deshaun Watson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in November of last year, Flacco won four of his five regular-season starts and helped the 2023 Browns secure a postseason berth. Then, in February, the Associated Press NFL Comeback Player of the Year declared that he was willing to re-sign with Cleveland to serve as Watson’s primary backup. However, rumours circulated that some Browns executives were unhappy that fans would be heard “chanting for Flacco in games where Watson struggled” this fall, so the team decided to sign Winston instead.
The Browns have lost three of their first four games of the season, and Watson’s performance left a lot to be desired. In the meantime, Flacco outran Pittsburgh, completing 16 of 26 throws for 168 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Richardson’s hip pointer that kept him out of the game on Sunday is said to force him to miss “very little or no game action”. Assuming Flacco is healthy for this Sunday’s game against the 0-4 Jacksonville Jaguars, one wonders if the Colts would take calls regarding Flacco’s availability before the trade deadline on November 5 from a team in need of a quarterback, like the Miami Dolphins.
However, Flacco may be asked to stay by the Colts due to his injury history, even if the Super Bowl XLVII Most Valuable Player believes he could start for a team that is a strong contender but does not have a first-choice signal-caller.
“I believe that NFL players occasionally do see their work as a job, and occasionally they need to be reminded that this isn’t your typical job. “This is the greatest job ever,” Flacco exclaimed to Breer. And occasionally, something occurs to help you with it. And last year was somewhat like that as well. “Dude, how fortunate are you to be able to do this?” was the reminder that it was. And because I was aware of all of that when I returned there last year and had the chance to do so again, it was undoubtedly more delightful than before.”
